Flashbang and the Betas hit the dirt and maneuvered behind an outcropping of rocks.

“Are you ok, sir?” asked AT.

Trooper yanked the dagger from his arm and threw it away.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Where in bloody heck did that come from?”

“Sir,” Revan cut in, “I’ve got a life reading in the woods on the other side of these rocks.”

Trooper slowly inched his head around the edge of the barrier, only to have to pull it back abruptly when a laser blast tore a chunk out of the rock an inch from his head.

“Dag,” he growled under his breath.

“Put your weapons away and step out from behind the rocks if you want to live,” a voice called from the opposite side of the barrier.

Trooper hesitated to give the order, there was every possibility that it was a trap.

“Do it now, or we’ll send you a few thermal detonators!” the voice continued, more firmly this time.

Trooper nodded to the others, the Betas and Flashbang were trapped. The five troopers set their weapons down against the rocks and stepped out to meet their attackers.

Surprisingly, when they came out from behind the rocks, there was no one to meet them.

“What the…” Death breathed.

Then they noticed a small flicker of light not five feet away. Suddenly, with an appearance like that of a static shock, three black armored figures slowly came into focus.

“They’ve got cloakers…” Revan whispered.

The soldier in the middle of the group withdrew a datapad and tossed it on the ground in front of Trooper.

“Read it.”

Trooper eyed the soldiers while he picked up the datapad. The first thing he noticed was that each of them had a defining emblem on their right shoulder. The one who had tossed the datapad had a Mandolorian Skull emblazened in blood red. The one on the right- who also held a throwing knife in his left hand- was marked with the image of some sort of reptilian eye. The third, armed with a pair Westar-34 blaster pistols, had some sort of red-furred canid painted across his shoulder.

The second thing Trooper noticed, was that each of the soldiers had a designation number-the same kind that the Betas had-across their chestplates. The middle soldier had designation “SB-3700”, the one on the right had “LE-1500”, and the one on the left had “FX-1700”.

Trooper turned the datapad on and read the directions posted on the screen.

Mos Eisley Cantina. Ask for Jens Hentonar.You have 24 hours.

When Trooper looked back up from the screen the three soldiers were gone.

“Where’d they go?”

“They turned the cloakers back on while you were reading,” AT responded. “I guess they left.”

“Sir, what does it say?” Revan asked.

Trooper sighed. “Apparently we’re going to Tatooine.” He turned to Flashbang, “Tell Solid we need something a bit faster than a transport.”

Trooper sighed. They had only been traveling for about twenty minutes, but even that was too much time lost in his opinion.

A moment or two later AT came jogging up from the back of the ship.

“Trooper!” He called when he spotted him. “We’ve got company.”

“What do you mean?”

“Rodians!”

Trooper whipped around and yelled, “Flashbang, evasive maneu-“

His order was cut short by a jolt that shook the ship like an earthquake and sent him and AT sprawling.

Trooper jumped to his feet, “Flashbang, drop out of hyperspeed so we can get a shot at these fools!”

Surprising how far the Rodian ship-building technolegy had advanced in the space of three years. The pirating bugs had spacefighters that could keep up with hyperspace bound craft, and still line up shots at their quarry.

Unfortunately, the Godspeeder had no such battle ready advantages. In order to get a shot off with the transport’s blasters, they would almost have to stop. Luckily, Death was the best shot with a ship’s turret that Trooper had ever seen.

The cruiser dropped out of hyperspeed and Trooper rushed to the nearest available turret.

“Death, have you got ahold of a gun yet?”

“I got in before they were in range.” He replied, with a somewhat jovial tone.

“How many have we got?”

“I count five…”

An explosion.

“Haha! Make it four…”

“Way to go, soldier,” Trooper called over his shoulder. “AT, I need you monitoring the ship’s status.”

“Sir, they’re coming back around for another strafing run. From the front this time…”

“I copy, Death. Light ‘em up!”

“Affirmative…”

The Rodians’ second pass cost them two more ships.

“Haha! DIE you little bugs!”

“Sounds like he’s enjoying himself,” Revan called from the cockpit.

“Well, you know he’s only happy in a battle!” AT replied.

“Here they come again, sir”

“I see them. Make them pay.”

The lead ship approached at a surpising speed, leaving its partner far behind.

“What the…”

Trooper watched the fighter as its front slowly began glowing.

“He’s got an ion!”

Too late. The blast caught the ships turrets with a deadening blast. The guns’ power shut down.

“That’s not good…” Death sighed.

Trooper jumped from his seat and ran to the cockpit.

“Flash, how good a pilot are you?”

“Uh, fair. Sir.”

“Let me put it this way. Can you get hit a target with this thing?”

“How big a target we talking about?”

“Let’s say about the size of a Rodian starfighter.”

“Haha, most certainly, sir.”

“Good. Line us up with them when they come back around. Then put us in hyperspeed.”

“Roger…”

The Rodians turned and began speeding toward the Beta’s transport.

“Be ready…”

“Aligning now…”

“Hit it!”

Flashbang shoved the hyperspeed throttle home, and the Godspeeder ripped through the Rodian fighters like a blade of light through darkness.

They cruised in silence for a moment before breathing a sigh of relief.

“Wow,” AT said quietly.

“Wow is right…”

“Sir, I have to admit, I wasn’t sure this cruiser was going to hold up against the impact,” Revan said.

Trooper laughed gravely, “Huh, you know, neither was I…”

Tatooine: Mos Eisley Docking Platform: Clone Wars: Day 316: Evening

“Alright,” Trooper adressed his fellow squad members, “Death and I are going to go into the settlement to try and find this Hentonar person. If we find anything, we’ll call in on the comlink. AT, you run whatever repairs this thing needs. Revan, I need you to do some background checks on this Hentonar guy. Any dirt you can dig up can only help.”

Tatooine: Mos Eisely Cantina: Clone Wars: Day 316

To call the Mos Eisley Cantina a “dirty” area of Tatooine culture, would be an immense understatement. The cantina was a wretched hive of villainy and twisted characters looking for any form of dishonest work. This was the place that the so called “Jens Hentonar” was located.

“Look around,” Trooper whispered to Death.

While Death was investigating the scum infested pit of an establishment, Trooper went to the bartender.

“Hello,”

The bartender glanced at Trooper and sighed.

“Meh, what do you want?”

“Oh, uh, nothing to drink.”

“Oh? Well, we don’t serve any food.”

“No, that’s not it at all. You see, I’m looking for someone.”

“Oh? Lots of people come in here. Plenty of choice. Jasrel over there is a pretty little-“

“NO! Nothing like that. I’m looking for someone by the name of Jens Hentonar.”

“Oh, him…” The bartender pointed across the room to a hooded figure sitting in a corner with a drink. “Over there.”

“Thanks,” Trooper replied, and walked across the room to the dark corner that housed who was hopefully Jens Hentonar.

Trooper sat down across the table and watched the figure for a moment before speaking.

“Jens Hentonar?”

The figure didn’t move, but answered in a somewhat raspy voice.

“Yes, who are you?”

“I’m a soldier of the Republic, I was told to meet you here.”

“You’re the Beta?”

Unexpected. How did he know about the squad?

“Yes, I’m the Beta commander.”

“Huh, they don’t wait around, do they?” Jens removed his hood, revealing that he was a Kel Dor. He promptly slapped a lightsaber onto the table.

“You’re a jedi?” Trooper asked in surprise.

“Ah, no, used to be. Not anymore. A bunch of ‘high and mighty’ fools. I prefer to think of myself as someone who is simply proficient in the use of the Force.” Trooper could almost see Hentonar smiling behind his breath mask. “I have a proposition for you.”

Last edited by foxrock66(Roadkill) on Sat Jan 16, 2010 11:04 am; edited 3 times in total (Reason for editing : so many typos embarassing)